Chiang Kai-shek

"I have no interest in kowtowing to anyone. Not to Sun Yat-sen. Not to London, or Moscow, or Washington. And certainly not to the Order's Inner Sanctum, sitting in their darkened throne room god knows where—"

―Chiang Kai-shek to Stirling Fessenden, 1927

Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石; 1887 – 1975), most commonly known to the Chinese as Jiang Zhongzheng (蔣中正), was a Chinese military officer who led the Nationalist Party, also known as the Kuomintang (KMT), in its campaigns to unify the nation under the Republic of China. He was the successor of the KMT's founder Sun Yat-sen and bore the title generalissimo (大元帥; Mandarin: dàyuánshuài, lit. 'grand marshal') as the commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA).

While his Northern Expedition (1926–1928) was largely successful in ending the Warlord Era, enabling the KMT to consolidate rule over most of the country, his violent purge of his erstwhile communist allies in Shanghai eventually culminated in the next phase of internal conflict, the Chinese Civil War. He led China through the Second Sino-Japanese War, but despite China's victory in that conflict, the resumption of the civil war against the Communist Party spelled the end of their control over China. The KMT government fled to Taiwan, where they reestablished the Republic of China in exile, and Chiang Kai-shek officially became its president, ruling as a dictator until his death in 1975.

Unlike his predecessor, Chiang Kai-shek rejected affiliation with the Templar Order, even after the Shanghai Rite offered him the position of grand master and aided him in his march to Shanghai.

Biography

After the KMT founder Sun Yat-sen was killed by Assassins, Chiang Kai-shek became the party's new military leader. Since Sun had been their respected grand master, the Shanghai Rite were enthusiastic for Chiang's succession in their ranks as well. They placed their hopes that his reunification of China would quell the chaos that severely hampered their control over the nation and stymied their operations. Unbeknownst to them, Chiang had no intention of accepting their offer because he found the idea of submitting his future rule to the Templar's Inner Sanctum repulsive and believed that Triads would be more lucrative allies.

The Northern Expedition

Soon after becoming generalissimo of the National Revolutionary Army in 1926, Chiang embarked on his aggressive push northward from Guangdong to destroy the other rival warlord states. Shanghai was a key target in this campaign, and the communists of the city were enthusiastically expectant of his arrival, believing that as their allies, the KMT would herald their liberation from the bourgeoisie. In the meantime, Chiang's forces were bogged down in Chekiang province. Frustrated with the Shanghai Rite's perpetual failures, the Inner Sanctum of the Templar Order sent the Black Cross Albert Bolden to intervene in their operations. The Black Cross's first action was to destroy an armoured train called the Great Wall that was being used by the Templar defector Yuri Dolinsky to support warlord Zhang Zongchang's battle against Chiang.

With its destruction, the NRA was able to proceed to Shanghai, and day-by-day communists in the streets clamoured excitedly even in the face of violent reprisals. The Shanghai Rite were just as eager to receive Chiang Kai-shek, and they prepared an invitation in the form of a letter, a Templar ring, and the severed finger of the ring's previous owner, Thaddeus Gift, who had been executed by the Black Cross for abusing his position to embezzle funds. Despite their optimism for Chiang's leadership, the macabre token was included as a thinly veiled threat to intimidate him against declining.

These items, packaged into a wooden box, never made it into Chiang's hands because Sun Yat-sen's widow, Soong Ching-ling, foresaw his disloyalty to the Templars and hired a family friend, Zhang Damin, to intercept its delivery. Simultaneously, Chiang himself had caught wind of the invitation and decided to signal his rejection in advance by killing the courier, Thaddeus's son Darius. His Green Gang associate Du Yuesheng sent two detectives from the French Concession to accomplish this, but they only managed to murder the Templar who was to meet with Darius before being intercepted by the Black Cross.

Repudiation of communists and Templars

On 12 April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek's army arrived at Shanghai to jubilant cheers by members of the Communist Party and their supporters. Per his orders, the Green Gang which had been masquerading as a communist trade union called the Hop Wo Society suddenly drew firearms on the crowd. The ensuing massacre that saw the confirmed deaths of 400 people with another 5,000 missing was Chiang's bloody message to the communists of the KMT's definitive renunciation of their ties. Accompanied by Du Yuesheng, he surprised the Shanghai Rite's leader Stirling Fessenden at the Great World, where he formally make explicit his refusal of the Templar offer of membership. With the purge raging outside, he added that he was only refraining from doing the same to Templars to reciprocate for their assistance with the armoured train in Chekiang.

As the meeting came to a close, Chiang received a card with a black cross from Tsai, Soong Ching-ling's servant who had just been in contact with Albert Bolden. Although he deduced correctly that this was the Black Cross's death mark, nothing would come of it. Bolden was then in a fight to save Darius Gift from being murdered by Du Yuesheng's assassin, Flowery Flag, and would disappear right after clinching victory when Darius turned his gun on him for having killed his father.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed FCBD 2016 Edition (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Templars
  • Volume 1: Black Cross